Chairwoman Mary Gibbons is at it again as she states this time that County will be back in the Football League this time next year, and praises Peter Ward for Ray Mathias’ good work since he came in as County boss!
Gibbons, speaking to BBC Sport, says that ‘things were already in place’ for Mathias to do his job as caretaker manager after what she called ‘brilliant work by Peter (Ward) and Alan (Lord)’.
“Ray has done a very, very good job since he’s taken over the reigns. But a lot of the work, as Ray would actually tell you, had already been put in place.”
“When they came to the football club he was actually standing in working alongside Peter (Ward) and Alan (Lord) and they’d actually implemented a lot of things that have come to the front now.”
“Ray has got a contract until the end of the season and obviously the managerial position is being looked at at the moment.”
“Ray has done a great job at Stockport County and he has made comments and shown an interest in wanting to stay on, so what we need to do now as a board is discuss that position and appoint accordingly.”
Sounds like ‘thanks but no thanks’ personally.
But she wasn’t done there.
“I understand that the fans are drowning their sorrows at the moment, but we are preparing for life in the Conference and will be ready for promotion this time next season.”
“Hopefully this time next year we’re cracking open the champagne and celebrating our immediate return to the Football League.”
Eeeek. Another painful interview.
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A bit harsh ed I’d say! You often get this over optimistic sales pitch around season ticket renewal time. Not that I think the club has been run well this season. Dilly-dallying over the new manager after SIMPSON AXED (official site headline and truely disrespectful in my book). Plus scare communication with the fans, and when there was communication it seemed amateurish and even cringe-worthy. Mind, the buck is shared by the invisible men of the 2015. So, all in all the board and the Gibbons match the club as a whole. Pretty poor verging on basket case.
I hope Mary and the board dont dilly dally appointing a manager and all the half decent players end up going to other clubs, I would imagine playing for County would be an attractive proposal for many players in this league especially given our fan base, I hope Ray Mathias gets the job but please tell him sooner rather than later, as for getting back in league two this time next year then I think that’s a big ask at best but if we can get the right players in the of course thats possible
RED ALERT….. ACTION STATIONS…. ALL BETS OFF…. TAKEOVER TOMORROW (or has the sun and the beer in the Arden Arms this afternoon addled my brain!?
Anyone heard owt about tomorrow and new owners?
Kid i think the only anouncement tomorrow will the wedding. I think that you have had tooooo much of that beer in the Arden Arms.
Personally I am grateful to the Gibbons and the consortium for saving the club. Yes they have made mistakes but they have been honest mistakes. Theres not a board or owner in the country that hasnt made mistakes. If ever there was a time for TRUE supporters to unite its now and what we dont want is the C***P being dished out by this article writer. Should be ashamed of yourself mate, or are you just being deliberately contraversial in the hope that you might attract the attention of some dodgy tabloid.
“Yes they have made mistakes but they have been honest mistakes.” If you believe in your heart of hearts that they’ve innocently made a series of honest mistakes, than that’s up to you. I don’t believe that, I believe they’re amateurs who don’t really know how to run a football club, yes they ‘saved us’ for which we’re all grateful, but other than that THEY are the owners under who’s tenure we are relegated to the Conference for the first time in 106 years. THEY are the owners who appointed Simpson without ever really backing him, then p*ssed around never replacing him properly, handing the job to their mate Wardy, watching him fail whilst standing idly by, then finally doing something about it and replacing Ward…and THEN praising Ward when his replacement does a better job! Yes they saved us, but NO they are not football club owners, they are in over their heads, THEY are the ones who have boasted for seven years that they would be great for this club. And at the end of the day, they’ve failed. Now, if rumours are to be believed, they are deliberately getting in the way of our new CEO and trying desperately to cling onto power. The gratefulness for saving our football club will always be there, but they are the ones who have relegated MY football club with a series of poor decisions and egotistical interviews and behaviour. I’m holding out for a takeover and the amicable departure of the pair of them – this is not a newspaper, it’s a Stockport County independent fan site written by me, a fan of the club since I was born, I have the same opinions and the same arguments as the rest of the County fans. If I think the owners have cocked up and harmed my football club, I’ll say so. Talk about the fans uniting, well we will do with a fresh start. Ed.
I do agree with scfcsam, The board have made some really poor decisions mainly appointing Wardy when he cleary from day one was not up to the job the watching idly as game after game we were being humiliated by really poor league two teams.
We cannot do anything about yesterday other than learn from mistakes made we can do something about tomorrow though so lets unite for the cause and that is to get SCFC back in league football ASAP.
Interview on the BBC website whilst it lasts
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/stockport/9470100.stm
I think there is a concensus foruming (rightly or wrongly) that The Gibbons have worked hard for County but maybe they are not the right people to lead the club. I have heard it said the other board members are happy for them to take all the flak. My instinct tells me they will be off soon. … what any new owners means to County is anyones guess. Hope it is not a case of oout of the frying pan.
Are you saying Moor that the board is divided? Are the rest of the board trying to get the Gibbons ousted to allow Newton and crew to take it over? Or is it just speculation!!
Come on people, stop squabbling! Yes, Mary Gibbons has made mistakes, she is entitled to make mistakes seeing as she hasnt run a football club before – they are innocent mistakes and she and her board gave us a season we never thought we’d see. Her only really big mistake was staying in bed with Kennedy but was there really any alternative!
The main aim now is to get back into the Football League as soon as possible and even more importantly to sever all links with Kennedy and his cohorts. The club will never ever prosper whilst we are reliant on this absolute abhorant excuse for a human being and I would rather take humble pie for 2 years and ground share with a local League club than contribute to Cheshire Sports immoral coffers. If EP is valued at 1.7 million AND the maggot is looking to push off to Salford then surely it would be economically better to borrow the money to buy EP than continue paying the exhorbitant rent we now pay – we would also get the income from catering, bar sales and the corporate side instead of gate receipts alone. Its also time for SMBC to come clean – are you going to develope EP or finance a new ground? I know you’ve brown nosed Kennedy and Sale Sharks for years but what happens when they’ve gone? County are the Towns team and have more history and culture than Sale Sharks can even dream of.
I make no excuse for my utter dislike and hatred of Brian Kennedy – he used County as a smokescreen for his ruthless ambitions to promote Sale Sharks at the expense of us fans and for that I will always consider him as a dishonest parasitic Maggot whom we need to be rid of – sincerely.
However and maybe on a slightly lighter note, I think Kennedy is personally skint and has resorted to TV comercials for a “well known” double glazing firm. Next time you’re watching the ITV ads and that nausiating geezer comes on and says “Buy one, I say buy one get one free” just take away the long hair (leaving the baldy head”, take away the proposterous Burnley accent and replace it with a Scottish twang and BINGO!!! Its Kennedy – Check it out!!
Like it rylester…..fully concur with your thoughts however my take on it is that Kennedy is a “chancer” he took an opportunity that Elwood presented to him, so we shouldn’t be surprised at the way things have gone since then, the day Elwood sold the ground was always going to be horrendous for SCFC, for the life of me I cannot see what or why he would have done that other than finacial gain
Of course they dont know how to run a football club, they’ve never had to do it before. Even experienced owners make mistakes. Hodgesons appointment at Liverpool, Port Vales appointment of Jim Gannon and many other similar appointments. Over the years we have made similar disastrous appointments, who remembers Jimmy Melia. We were heading for the Conference the moment we were forced into administration but our decline started the when Elwood sold the club to mr k. If we had been able to avoid administration, we may have been able to stay in L2. Dont forget, if it had not been for the ‘old pals act’ we would have been a non league club years ago under the re-election system. Some of the comments leveled at the Gibbons are unfare, unproven and in some cases bordering on the libelous. We as fans must also take some of the blame or at least those that stay at home listening to games on Pure then have the cheek to complain or even write on this forum about performances. Fans have to be careful what they wish for. Look at Charlton and Rushden for instance.
From my point of view I cannot thank Mary Gibbons and the board enough for saving our club, of course it was almost an imposible task given that we were so far behind in getting in players pre season due to our cicumstances, I dont fully blame Kennedy as on the sale of SCFC he was a “chancer” which purely means someone who takes an every avantage to it’s upmost of something that is offered to them and in our case the opportunity was presented to him by Elwood when he agreed the sale of SCFC for whatever reason he had.
It is so easy to have a go at Mary Gibbons as we (english people) seem to enjoy putting the boot in when someone is on the floor. The gibbons family have put their own personal money into SCFC and for that we should be grateful, lets get behind our board and for the next season and stop slagging them off. Thank you for all you have done ONWARDS AND UPWARDS STOCKPORT COUNTY